Now Androv was grappling to keep control of the throttle, while issuing instructions to Petra.
Am I about to disable her? he wondered. If I do, can he manage this nightmare manually? What if Mino was only bluffing?
Two seconds.
A final, bright green 9 appeared on the liquid crystal readout.
“Alert. AI system malfunction.” It was the toneless voice of Petra. She sounded vaguely annoyed.
Something had happened. Two of the screens on the wall above had just gone blank, but Daedalus continued to climb.
"Dr. Vance, we are now going to recall the plane. We have ordered a wing of fighter-interceptors scrambled from the Dolinsk airbase on Sakhalin. They will escort you back."
Whoops. So that was what he was telling the Soviet brass to do. Get up some hardware fast. This could well be the shortest flight since the Wright brothers'.
Then he heard Androv's helmet mike click on.
"This is Daedalus I. Do you copy me?"